MINI)
SOUL
Home Depot magnate works to strengthen Israel's economic and political foundation.
ARTHUR M. HORWITZ
Publisher
ernie Marcus doesn't chase rainbows.
That's not how he started and built the
hugely successful Home Depot chain
into a $38 billion revenue machine
employing 230,000 people. And that's not how he
started and built the Israel Democracy Institute into
Israel's most important, yet low-visibility ally for
strengthening its government infrastructure.
With all of the high-profile ways to assist Israel, from building schools
and hospitals to lobbying the U.S. Congress for military and economic aid,
Marcus has invested his energy, prestige, dollars and time into an unsexy
think tank.
There are no buildings with naming opportunities, no plaques; just a
bunch of eggheads who happen to be among the best and brightest minds
in Israel. And the work they are doing is fundamental to the country's
growth and survival. At the top of the list is drafting a constitution.
Ten years ago, Marcus was no different than many successful Jews of his
generation. He was a supporter of Israel, was part of his Jewish federation in
Atlanta and felt that after the horrors of World War II, all Jews had an obli-
gation to assist in building the state.
But he didn't feel personally involved until the controversial "who is a
Jew" debates in Israel. With a daughter-in-law who
converted to Judaism under the guidance of a
Reform rabbi, Marcus was upset that she wouldn't
be considered a Jew if she decided to become a citi-
zen of Israel. Under the legislation, only Orthodox
converts to Judaism would qualify.
Taking a business-like approach to the issue,
Marcus and two Atlanta rabbis formed a fact-find-
ing commission and, after some research, deter-
mined Israel's unstable political system was the root cause for the "who is a
Jew" issue. But what could an American Jew living in Atlanta do about it?
"I looked at the system and saw it was just not workable. It's hard for
Americans to understand because we have a pretty good system, with a
Constitution and a Bill of Rights; none of which we have in Israel," Marcus
said in a recent interview. "So I decided something had to be done about it,
except everyone I talked to said, 'There's nothing you can do about it. It's
like fighting city hall.' I said I'll try."
Friends of the IDI•
Alan Barry, Arthur
Horwitz, Member of
Knesset Dan Meridor,
Bernie Marcus, Alon
Kaufman, Dan and
Norm Pappas.
Gaining Insight
Marcus consulted with Ken Stein, a Middle East expert at Emory University in
Atlanta, and was introduced to Arye Carmon, a professor at Tel Aviv University
and, according to Marcus, "a patriot, a hero, a brilliant scholar and a doer."
"We talked about what we could do and he was as infuriated about the
system as I was," Marcus added. "We talked about changing the system,
going in and trying to strengthen how the government is elected, how it
performs and trying to help it develop a constitution."
From those meetings, the Israel Democracy Institute was created, along
with its American counterpart. Marcus serves as international chairman and
Carmon as president. Former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz is hon-
orary chairman and, according to Marcus, very active in the institute's work.
The Israel Democracy Institute is positioned as a non-partisan think tank,
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